Blink 182

A band that has gone through some changes. Originally a skate punk band, they have transitioned into pop punk. It really shouldn't be a surprise to anybody that has listened to all their albums. They have been heading that way for a while. Many people claim they have sold out, others claim they have half-sold out. IMHO I think they fight it by keeping true to their insane antics, but their music has lost most of its punkness. (Is that a word?)

The bands name was originally Blink, until it was brought to their attention that there was already a band named Blink. They got threatened with a lawsuit. At this point they added 182 onto their name. Why 182? Possible reasons:

Mark's ideal weight

the case number for when Blink-182 raped their neighbor's horse

the number of times Mark has masturbated (lube) to the paused image of Princess Leia in the Jabba slave girl outfit

the number of times Tom has masturbated (dryskin) to the image of the puppeteer dwarf inside Jabba's tail

the number of talk shows Scott watched this last summer involving club kids

If you add 1 and 8 together, you get 9. If you subtract 2 from 8, you get 6. Reverse them and you get 69

A story as told by Mark: "My grandfater was on a destroyer in WWII, and a Japanese zero kamakazi'd it, and it sank. My grandfather and five other men got to a liferaft whose number was 182. They survived at sea for ten days until they were rescued. They were the only ones who survived, becuase of the lifeboat, and they all got tattoos of the number 182 on their arms."

not to mention various stories of "how many times so and so says fuck in some gangster movie", a common example involves Al Pacino in Scareface

To quote the band "Who the fuck knows?" The band has perpetrated some of the myths and added fuel to the fire of others, but in the end the real reason is that there is no reason. This may be complete rumor, but according to one web site, that I can't find right now, the boys originally formed a mariachi band called El Cuatro and the Cajones.

In my personal opinion Dude Ranch and Cheshire Cat are their best albums, I can't decide between the two. There are some really great songs on both. Dude Ranch is what brought my attention to this band, but it also brought the attention of major labels. My personal favorite song is Josie off Dude Ranch.

I went to see these guys for the my second time at the Kiel Center here in St. Louis after Enema of the State was released. I had lousy seats. They weren't serving beer. Fenix TX opened. Bad Religion played second (I don't think 2/3 of the people there listened to them, maybe half didn't even know who they were until they played 21st Century Digital Boy, but they rocked, and I enjoyed it). Blink 182 played all their songs fast and punk-like. I think it left many johnny-come-lately fans stunned. At 26 I think I would have been the oldest person there for the music (as opposed to being brought by their kids) except one of my friends with me was 32. I also think many people were stunned by Blink 182's antics. For the price of one ticket to this show I got four to a Less Than Jake show. Bad Religion almost made it worth the cost.

info gathered from allmusic.com, the blink web site, fan sites, and me.
The list of false reasons for 182 is from http://www.angelfire.com/sd/caitlinj2/, but I already knew all, but two.

A word about the sheer stupidity of these guys and their antics. Do we have to be serious all the time? Nope. These guys are what happens when movies like Dumb and Dumber are popular. Is there anything wrong with that? No. As long as a person stays balanced why can't they let go and get stupid sometimes? (Ok so I'm just defending/rationalizing why I like these guys, I'll shutup now)

Blink-182 is a very popular high-school-punk-ish band. They started off as a high school band in Poway, CA (in San Diego County) known as Blink. After putting out their first album, Cheshire Cat, in 1995, some random Irish band claimed they had previous rights on the name Blink and threatened a suit. Before the next album, Dude Ranch, they changed to Blink-182. Cheshire Cat was a great album -- but I probably only say that because I grew up listening to it all the time in high school. There was nothing better to play driving around with friends in Encinitas after the rest of the town had gone to sleep (around 9:30pm). My first copy of Cheshire Cat just said Blink, without the 182, but since then I gave it away and got a new one with the 182.

Their early sound is reminiscent of NoFX, Green Day, and PennyWise. It's generally characterized by fast guitar and kinda whiny vocals, usually singing about the injustices of adolescence. It doesn't feel bitter, though -- it's more playful than anything else. Their albums have random comedic interludes, adding to the feel of three punk kids playing around in a recording studio.

Since then, they've appeared everywhere, getting air play on all kinds of stations everywhere (I think every station in the Bay Area has played a Blink song at one time or another). They're getting huge press, they're all over MTV, in the movies (e.g. American Pie) -- in short, they're pop superstars. Call it selling out, if you've got a stick up your butt, but if you were some punk kid from a San Diego suburb offered unbelievable fame and fortune to do what you've always done for fun in your garage anyway, you'd have to be some kind of fool to turn it down.